Radiation Exposure Compensation Act

Several months after the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act was expanded in July to include 21 Missouri ZIP codes, the U.S. Department of Justice reports that as of Monday, $8.57 million worth of claims have been approved for those impacted by Manhattan Project waste contamination.

Eligible residents can receive a $50,000 lump sum if they got sick after living, working or going to school near nuclear radiation in 21 Missouri ZIP codes added to the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act by Congress over the summer.

Efforts are underway to make it easier to access the 24-page application online. The Radiation Exposure Compensation Act was expanded earlier this summer to include ZIP codes in St. Louis, St. Louis County and St. Charles County.

Using childhood addresses, researchers found that those who lived in close proximity to the contaminated waterway as children were more likely to report they had been diagnosed with the disease.

Officials are warning residents in St. Louis county about scams targeting people sickened by radiation.

Residents of 21 ZIP codes in St. Louis, St. Louis County and St. Charles County are now eligible to seek compensation for radiation exposure through a federal program. However, residents of Venice, Madison and Granite City did not make it in the expansion.

U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley was able to include the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act in a major budgetary package.

An expansion of the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act to include 21 Missouri ZIP codes scattered throughout St. Louis, St. Louis County and St. Charles County now awaits President Donald Trump’s signature.

U.S. Rep. Nikki Budzinski of Illinois has renewed her push to include parts of the Metro East in federal legislation that would compensate residents for being exposed to radiation from the World War II-era atomic weapons program.

U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley said concerns about cost killed earlier efforts to renew a program for people exposed to radioactive waste. Hawley hopes a new compromise with a lower mandatory spending price tag will finally break through.